WASHINGTON — Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the upper chamber’s top defense appropriator, said Thursday he will not seek reelection in 2026.
McConnell will end his four-decade career after having served as the longest-tenured Senate leader in U.S. history, a role he stepped down from ahead of the current Congress and as he took over as chair of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee.
“Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate,” McConnell said in remarks on the Senate floor on Thursday. “Every day in between I’ve been humbled by the trust they’ve placed in me to do their business here. Representing our Commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime,”
“I will not seek this honor an eighth time,” McConnell went on to say “My current term in the Senate will be my last.”
McConnell also gave a shout out to one of the first times he “spoke at length on this floor as a freshman,” which was to “join the debate over strengthening the deterrence of America’s nuclear triad, whether to expand the U.S. military’s hard-target nuclear capability.”
The veteran Senator said this is “the most dangerous time since right before World War II. Our adversaries – the North Koreans, the Chinese, Russians, Iran and Iran’s proxies – are all talking to each other. They have one thing in common, they hate us. And they want to diminish our role in the world,” McConnell said previously.
“We need to ramp up defense spending in order to prevent a direct conflict with our adversaries. It’s a lot cheaper to prevent war than it is to have one,” McConnell said. “So that’s the focus I’m going to have for the next couple years.”
McConnell, who had served as the Senate Republican leader since 2007, assumed the coveted SAC-D chairmanship from Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont,), who lost his reelection bid, and after the GOP regained majority control of the chamber.
In December, McConnell wrote in a Foreign Affairs piece that the U.S.’ almost $900 billion defense topline is “not nearly enough” and urged the then-incoming Donald Trump administration to support “a significant and sustained” defense spending boost.
With McConnell’s retirement, the most senior Republicans on SAC-D that could look to take helm of the panel include Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the current SAC chair, Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) or Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who currently leads the Senate Budget Committee.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) is the current top Democrat on SAC-D and would likely shift from his ranking member role to the chairmanship if Democrats retake their majority following the 2026 midterms.
McConnell was one of three Republicans, along with Collins and Murkowski, who voted with all Democrats in opposing Pete Hegseth’s nomination to be defense secretary.
A version of this story was first published by Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily.
